


For Once in Your Life, Don't Fight Me on This

by cactusthespacecat



Category: Voltron Force, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Gen, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Shiro is gone, Violence, get a room plz, head action, keith the lovesick edge lord is stupid, klance angst, klangst, pidge is a meme lord, such violence wow, theres really not any violence, this is just kind of a mess and probably canon js
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-29 11:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10853325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cactusthespacecat/pseuds/cactusthespacecat
Summary: In the wake of Shiro's disappearance, Them Bois™ (Keith and Lance) argue over who would be a better leader of the gang, ending in a remarkable discovery.





	For Once in Your Life, Don't Fight Me on This

Lance hip-bumped Hunk away from the control console, and Hunk yelped softly as he toppled into Coran. Lance wiggled his fingers tantalizingly over the holographic buttons and looked at Allura with a huge grin on his face. “Could I please try?” 

Allura sighed. “No, Lance, you’re not Altean. You don’t have the right energy or background.”

Lance blew a raspberry, and Allura licked her lips and looked at Coran in exasperation. “In any case,” Coran said, sliding past Hunk and Allura to put a hand softly on Lance’s shoulder, “now may not be the best time. Many of Zarkon’s forces survived our last -um- encounter, and they may be reforming. We have to stay alert.” He offered a sheepish grin, trying to be light-hearted. “For Shiro, you know?”

At the mention of the lost paladin, Lance, to everyone’s surprise, snarled lightly, the right side of his upper lip pulling up in such an ugly look that Coran took a step back. 

Hunk immediately took Coran’s place next to Lance. “It’s cool, Lance. Pidge is working out how to find him. In the meantime,” Hunk grinned widely, lowering his voice and his face so that his mouth was right next to Lance’s ear, “You WERE top of your class at the Garrison. You know how to fly.”

Lance’s eyes lit up, and he stood stalwartly in front of the control panel, blocking Allura from getting to it. “I went to pilot’s school.” He said proudly. Allura tried to budge past him, but Lance wouldn’t move. 

“If I recall correctly, you never finished pilot’s school, Lance.” 

This made Lance step back a bit, but he recovered before Allura could sneak in between him and the glowing board. “Well-” He pouted, “Neither did Keith.”

Hunk spoke up, his head in his hands, “Lance, literally no one asked -”

He was interrupted by the Edge Lord™ himself, Keith, walking into the control room while sheathing his bayard. 

“You couldn’t pilot the ship even if you WERE Altean.” Keith said softly, leaning against the wall. Hunk squinted, putting himself between the two boys so that Keith couldn’t see the steam rising from Lance’s ears.

“Who put a stick up your butt, Keith? That was uncalled for, “ Hunk said. Allura took this opportunity to sneak between Lance and the control panel. 

Keith laughed. “I’m just trying to be realistic. Plus, we don’t have time to check anyway. We have to stay on our toes or Zarkon’s men are going to wipe us out.” 

Hunk snorted. “Or maybe you’re just scared that Lance is actually a better pilot than you.” As soon as those words left his mouth, Hunk clapped his hands over his face and froze. 

Keith slipped off the wall, his eyes wide and his mouth stretching into a slight smile. He mumbled something under his breath. Something that Lance took as a challenge, as all things were with Keith. 

“What?!” Lance scampered up Hunk’s leg and stood on the bag that was slung around Hunk’s hip, hugging his friend’s head with one arm and pointing at Keith with the other. Hunk swayed lightly under Lance’s unbalanced weight. “What did you say to me?!.” 

Keith had a moment of deliberation that anyone watching could see. That is, except for Lance. Keith had been trying to get out of leading the team since the moment that Allura had turned to him and told him that Shiro wanted him to lead. 

An idea dawned behind his eyes, an idea that involved Lance being the Black Paladin. Keith knew he could do it, and he was pretty sure that Lance would fall for this. His face suddenly changing, Keith grinned. “Maybe I am scared. That you’re a better pilot than me, that is,” Keith sauntered across the room and put his hands on his hips, looking up at Lance, still perched on Hunk like a pirate on lookout. Lance was speechless, and Keith continued. “I would even go as far as to say that you’d be a better leader than me.”

Lance jumped onto the ground, pushing Hunk out of the way and dashing to look Keith in the eyes, his chest puffed out toward the other boy. “I’m- What?”

“You’re a better leader than me.” 

Lance blinked, looking back at Hunk and Coran as if to confirm that this was really happening. Then he turned back to Keith, his eyes steely, but his mouth set in a wide grin. “It’s too bad you’re wrong, Kogane.” Keith visibly swallowed, but then resumed his chill tone. 

“No, I’m not.” He said, leaning back and putting his hips forward as he laced his fingers behind his head in a stretch. “You’ve been leading this team since day one. Pidge told me- you were the pilot on your squadron. Allura only picked Shiro because he’s older than the rest of us. You’re the real leader.” 

Lance’s face distorted in another distasteful sneer. “Look, Keith. I don’t know what’s gotten into that head of yours,” He prodded Keith’s chest with one extended finger, “But you seem pretty delusional. One too many knocks to the head in the training room?” Before Keith could reply, Lance barrelled on. “We picked Shiro because he was a leader. And Shiro picked you to be the leader. That makes you a better leader. Anyway, a leader stands up and does what needs to be done, despite the risks. You’re good at that,” then he mumbled, “Unfortunately…” 

Keith smiled. “That sounds exactly like someone else I know, Jelly Fish Head.” Keith winked and Lance gasped a little, but not for the reason that Keith thought. “Don't worry, I wasn't spying on you.” He got closer to Lance to gesture to Hunk, who was standing like a scared bear. “Hunk told me that without you, he would still be making fish faces at those mermaids you found.” 

Lance glanced at Hunk, who shrugged, blushing a light pink. 

“Leader is just a title if you put it on me. Sure, Shiro said that I should lead. But that doesn’t mean he’s right all the time. Like I said, you were leading way before me.”

Lance folded his arms, looking at Keith through half-closed eyelids. “Is this a Galra soldier admitting defeat to a mere mortal?”

“Galra are morta-” Keith started, but Lance interrupted him, pacing in a tight circle around Keith like an old-school detective. 

“Why, sir, would a such a pompous, condescending prick wad such as yourself, feel it fit to lay down his honor in front of such a kingly individual?” Keith opened his mouth again, perhaps to defend himself, or perhaps to react to the increasingly terrible British accent that Lance was putting on, but Lance cut him off, clamping a hand over his mouth and finding himself very close to the other boy. Their faces were inches away, and the color in Keith’s face rose slightly.

“Are you actually scared?” Lance whispered, grinning. Keith fought the urge to bite Lance’s hand, instead rolling his eyes in response. Lance let go abruptly, spinning around with his hands laced together behind his neck. “Well, you shouldn’t be.” He giggled a little, and turned his head back to Keith with a grin. 

Keith tilted his head inquisitively. “Why not?”

Lance laughed. “I’m good at shooting, not leading.” He circled around to stand next to Hunk, who used his head as a armrest. 

“Why not both?” Keith shrugged, smiling softly. 

Lance sighed, scrunched under the weight of Hunk’s arm. “Because leading is your thing. You’re good at flying, you’re good at planning if you try, you’re good at thinking on your feet, you’re commanding but you still care about the team as a family.”

Keith shrugged. “I could say the same about you.” He said, smiling and folding his arms. “You’re passionate, you’re charming, you’re kind; you’re everything that a leader should be.” The stress on the word “you’re” was evident and a little stinging. 

Lance ducked away from under Hunk’s arm to meet Keith face to face again. “You’re well-mannered, you’re considerate, and you’re really smart. We give Pidge credit for the brains, but given some time, you could figure anything out.”

Keith shook his head. “I’m impulsive; I don’t give myself time to think. Plus, I don’t work well with others and that’s the most important part of leading. You’re great at planning ahead, and you do it with others.”

Keith stepped closer, closing more of the already narrow gap between them as Lance started talking, looking intensely at the ground. “I’m abrasive a lot of the time, I rub people the wrong way. I wouldn’t want to lead and make you guys feel like you HAVE to follow me when you don’t want to. I don’t want to be a burden. With you as the leader, we would feel like a part of Shiro was still leading, because, you know, he chose you.”

“And you think that if you were leader we would really be leaving Shiro behind.” Keith muttered softly, understanding. Lance nodded. “That’s complete quiznack,” Keith hissed, his nose a hairsbreadth from the tip of Lance’s nose, “If anything, finding Shiro would be the reason that you would be the best thing for the team, right now. With me as the leader, we’d never find him. I can’t focus on anything important; you know how to prioritize.” 

Lance rolled his eyes, but Keith didn’t see that. His eyes were locked on Lance’s moving lips. And even though Lance was still talking, his voice becoming progressively more anxious and sad, Keith couldn’t stop thinking of what could be the best way to shut him up.

Lance was dissolving, if only a little bit, ranting off his insecurities like a shopping list as Hunk, Coran, and Allura watched with open mouths and wide eyes. Keith was paying attention, but wasn’t hearing a word that Lance was saying. Keith leaned in close to do what he had been thinking about doing for a while now…. 

Just at that moment, Lance nodded fiercely. Spit flew from his mouth, and tears had started brimming a little in his eyes. “I only wish that I cou-” he said, but his sentence was stopped by the full frontal force of Keith’s forehead hitting his own. To Lance’s shock and the amusement of everyone around them, Lance had accidentally headbutted Keith, which had sent the stunned black-haired boy flying backwards. 

“Quiznack.” Keith murmured, stumbling around in a small circle before collapsing to his knees at Hunk’s feet.

“What just happened?” Lance staggered back, his head in his hands. He folded at the waist, falling onto his hands and knees before laying his aching head on the ground.

Coran, Allura, and Hunk were in stitches. Allura snorted through tears of mirth while Coran had digressed into a sort of hand-waving wheezing sort of laugh. Hunk was bellowing, barks of laughter escaping his body like giggly hiccups. 

Through a foggy haze, Lance heard the door to the control room open and Pidge’s footsteps cross the floor to stand next to Hunk, still laughing, who, in response to Pidge’s hushed question, explained in harsh whispers what had happened.

When he got to the part about Keith leaning forward with some weird look on his face, Pidge sighed. 

“Now we really have to find Shiro. He owes me twenty bucks now.”


End file.
